MONTPELIER – The head of the Department for Children and Families said Wednesday he wants to loosen up confidentiality rules governing the disclosure of information in cases of child abuse and neglect handled by department social workers.

"I'm not satisfied with the status quo on confidentiality," Commissioner David Yacovone told a legislative panel Wednesday. "I want to find the right way to open things up, carefully."

"I do have reservations about fully opening things up," Yacovone added. "I do not want children branded on the playground for things adults have done to them."

Under present law, the department is prevented from divulging information about reports of child abuse and neglect or even if such reports were investigated.

"Even if we make a referral, we'll get this nice little form letter back saying we have received the referral and that's about it," McQueen said. "That also fuels the belief that DCF is not doing anything, unless we are involved in a criminal investigation."

The testimony Wednesday came as the panel of five senators and two state representatives continues its probe into what reforms are needed at the department in the aftermath of the deaths of two toddlers this year who had previously been in state custody.

Dezirae Sheldon, 2, of Poultney died of a skull fracture in February; her stepfather Dennis Duby has since pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges.

Peighton Geraw, 14 months, of Winooski died of head and other injuries in April; his mother Nytosha LaForce has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder charges.

Subsequent investigations of the department's actions in the two cases by the Vermont State Police found a series of miscommunications between department workers and other officials in Dezirae's case, but not Peighton's case.

Yacovone told the panel that "mistakes were made" by his department in the Dezirae case. "It was a low point in our organization," Yacovone admitted to the lawmakers, but said work at addressing the problems raised by the case was underway.

Yacovone also told the lawmakers that when children are removed from their homes because of abuse or neglect, reunifying them with their parents is not necessarily the department's top priority.

"Our goal is not reunification," Yacovone said. "Our goal is the safety of children, and permanence."

Lt. James Cruise, the officer who conducted the state police probes into the department's handling of the two toddlers' cases, testified later Wednesday and took issue with Yacovone's remark.

Cruise told the panel that reunification seemed to be the department's priority, at least in the Dezirae case.

"Reunification was the driving motivation and almost the culture" inside the department, Cruise said. "That often leads to not putting the child's needs first."

Cruise said he was troubled that evidence from earlier in 2013 that Dezirae had two broken legs was not shared with all the interested parties in the case.

"The information flow did not occur," Cruise told the panel. "That was a particular shortcoming in that case."

As a result, he said, it is unclear who caused the injuries, Duby or the child's mother, Sandra Eastman. The mother was convicted of neglecting her child, but later claimed Duby was responsible for the injuries, according to Cruise's report.

Cruise said that, until he assembled the facts in the case, no one involved with the Dezirae case had a full picture of all that happened to her in the year leading up to her death.

Also testifying before the lawmakers Wednesday were Lynn Klamm, the newly inserted director of the department's Rutland office and Col. Thomas L'Esperance, commander of the state police. The chiefs of the Rutland and Burlington police departments and the state's attorneys for Chittenden, Rutland and Franklin counties appeared as well.

Contact Sam Hemingway at 660-1850 or shemingway@freepressmedia.com. Follow Sam on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SamuelHemingway.